Long Ball Powers Berlin High Baseball Past Plainville, 7-0.

This article written and reported by Rick Volk

Daren Grabowski put on an offensive show and Connor Bennett pitched a five-hit shutout in Plainvile to lead the Redcoats over the Blue Devils to a 7-0 victory, Friday night.

Bennett(5-0), working on three days rest after a subpar outing Monday against Maloney, struck out 8 Blue Devils, walked only one, and kept hitters off balance all night by effectively changing speeds, with his breaking ball often providing the out pitch. The Redcoat defense had a good night behind their pitcher, contributing three double plays.

Berlin struck early against right-hander Matt Thomas in the 2nd. Dante Vasi's leadoff home run to centerfield was the prelude to Jordan Zima's double, singles by Jeff Sylvester and Alec Norton, and a triple to deep right by Grabowski. Sylvester and Zima singled in the fourth, bringing Grabowski up again in an RBI situation.

This time the junior centerfielder drove a Thomas pitch over the fence in left for this second home run of the season. But Grabowski was not done. He added an RBI single off reliever Rob Pezzulo in the 6th to score Norton. All told, Grabowski went four for four, drove home five of his teams runs, and added two stolen bases. It was the top offensive performance by a Redcoat in 2013.

Plainville shortstop Shane Pugliese had two hits The Redcoats wrapped up a 2-1 week, running their record to 8-4 on the year.

Bennett’s gem was the third strong pitching performance by Berlin pitchers on the week, following Mike Veronesi's 9-inning stint against Maloney in Monday's 16-inning marathon and Jared Gallagher's compete game victory over Fermi on Wednesday. Plainville's loss dropped their record to 5-8 on the season.

It will be another busy week for Berlin next week, with Middletown visiting Sage Park on Monday night, and road games in Bristol on Wednesday against Bristol Central and Friday against Bristol Eastern.

Berlin:

• Daren Grabowski cf 4-1-4
  
• Greg Konowski lf 2-0-0
  
• Mitch Williams 2b: 4-0-0
  
• Kyle Naples ss 3-0-0
  
• Dante Vasi lb 4-1-2
  
• Dave Condon rf 4-0-0
  
• Jordan Zima c 4-2-2
  
• Jeff Sylvester dh 3-2-2
  
• Alec Norton 2b 3-1-2 RBI: Grabowski 5, Vasi, Sylvester
  
• 2B: Grabowski, Zima
  
• HR: Grabowski (2), Vasi (1)
  
• BB: Konowski, Naples
  
• HP: Konowski
  
• SB: Grabowski 2 P Connor Bennett (W, 5-0) 7IP, 5H, 0R, 1BB, 8K 
  

Plainville:

• Shane Pugliese ss 3-0-2
  
• Matt Thomas p-3b 2-0-1
  
• Mark DeMartinis lb 2-0-1
  
• Tyler Favrea dh 3-0-0
  
• Tyler Pina lf 3-0-1
  
• Dean DeMartinis rf 3-0-1
  
• Rob Pezullo 3b-p 3-0-0
  
• Brian Dostaler 2b 2-0-0
  
• Cody Chazneski c 2-0-0 BB: Thomas
  
• SB: Pugliese P Thomas(L) 5IP, 10H, 6R, 6ER, 2BB, 6K
  
• Pezzulo 2IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 1K